A network may use both optical fiber and coaxial cable for respective links. For example, the portions of the network that use optical fiber may be implemented using the Ethernet Passive Optical Networks (EPON) protocol, and the EPON protocol may be extended over coaxial cable plants. EPON over coax is called EPoC. The optical fiber part of the network can potentially support a higher data rate than the coax part of the network. Also, different coax parts of the network (e.g., different cable plants) may have different maximum data rates. Slow coax links thus can limit overall system performance. For example, if the Ethernet Passive Optical Network protocol is implemented in a network with both fiber (EPON) and coax (EPoC) links, the overall data rate may be limited by the lowest data rate of the worst coax link.
In view of these different data rates, there is a need for coordinating resource allocation between the optical fiber and coax parts of the network.
Like reference numerals refer to corresponding parts throughout the drawings and specification.